The Price of Dreams
by xpiester333x
Summary: A Zeff-centric story about why he would give up piracy to build a restaurant on the seas.


_**Caelumxiv said: **may i please request a zeff-centric story focusing on his reasons on why he decided to build a restaurant on the seas? plz include many feels_

* * *

The sky is the color of rust that is flaking away, revealing gold beneath. It's sunrise again, and Zeff hates it. Soon, the sun will be full in the sky, cooking him on this rock like an egg in a pan. There is no hiding from it. It will dry him out like a strip of meat. It rains sometimes, but there's never enough water.

Hunger is worse than the sun or the thirst. Zeff has sailed the sea for a long time, and he's been the victim of her cruelty more times than he can count. He knows hunger. He's familiar with the aching emptiness and the gnawing feeling in his stomach. He's been hungry before, and he knows the value of food.

But he's never been this hungry.

Across the barren rock there is a child. A snot-nosed brat that couldn't even swim properly and got them into this mess in the first place. The kid has a smart mouth and a nasty attitude, but he also has a fierce determination and a will to live the likes of which Zeff has not seen in years. Zeff hasn't heard from or spoken to the kid in a few days, but if he listens, sometimes he can hear the brat talking to himself.

_Idiot._

Zeff is hungry, and he could eat the kid. The little brat wouldn't take much to bring down, one half assed kick and he'd probably be crying for his mother. Zeff has been a pirate for a long time, and he wouldn't even feel guilty killing the brat for some food. He could eat for days, fill his stomach with something other than water, and possibly live on to see himself get off of this rock. Not to mention, if the kid had half a brain, he would still have some food left in that sack. That would feed Zeff for a week. His mouth waters at the thought.

But Zeff saved Sanji for a reason. Sanji has a dream. It's a dream that Zeff is familiar with, because it's the same dream as his own. It's a dream most others laugh at. They say it's a myth, a legend. It takes a special spirit to believe the All Blue is out there, and Sanji has that spirit. So does Zeff. That snot-nosed brat might have a smart mouth and a bad attitude, but in a way, they are kindred spirits.

Zeff wants to keep that kid alive. Zeff wants Sanji to live to see the All Blue with his own eyes. That was why Zeff gave him all the food, and that was why Zeff wouldn't kill the kid, even for a meal.

But Zeff has to eat something.

He raises the rock above his head. It's a heavy rock with a sharp point. It shakes in his weakened hands, but he needs it to be steady. He'll have to give up the name "Red-Leg", but that doesn't bother him as much as it might. A captain is nothing without a crew, and his crew is long gone. Whether they managed to escape or were claimed by the sea, he doesn't know, but he knows it's unlikely he will ever meet them again. They were good men. That loss hurts him worse than the loss of his title.

He brings the rock down with the last of his strength. He brings it down hard enough to rend flesh and break bone. The pain is incredible, but the pain in his stomach is worse.

* * *

There needs to be a restaurant on the sea.

Days have passed. Zeff has lost count of how long he's been sitting here. The pain in his leg took hold of his conscious mind until the starvation settled in again. One pain traded for another. He considers eating his other leg, but he's not sure he can lift the rock again. No, he knows he can't. He can barely keep himself upright.

He fills the countless days with thoughts and dreams that blur together. He thinks about a restaurant on the sea. How many people like him are starving on the ocean right this minute? The sea is endless and cruel – Zeff has always known that. He's seen the extent of her power, witnessed the harsh reality of it, and fallen victim to it himself. There was no avoiding it; you couldn't fight against the sea. But what if there were a place in the middle of the ocean where people could find a meal?

If he survives this, he wants to make that happen.

* * *

Zeff hasn't heard the kid talk to himself in a long time. How many days has it been? How long did he make that food last? Maybe he's dead. Zeff heaves a sigh, a simple action that consumes too much energy. If the kid is dead, that's a shame. Zeff wanted him to survive.

It's days or maybe just hours when Zeff hears the kid again. He's glad Sanji still has the energy to move around. He even has the energy to threaten Zeff's life. The food must be gone, because the kid is threatening Zeff at knife point, but he's got more energy than Zeff does. If the kid is going to kill him, then so be it. Zeff just hopes the brat doesn't waste what meat he has left.

Zeff watches out of the corner of his eye as the kid hacks open the bag. Zeff hasn't even thought about that bag in a long time. There was nothing in it of any value, at least not in a place like this. It's worth less to Zeff than the chucks of wood that washed up on this rock with them.

The kid is staring at him in horror, and Zeff wonders if this is the first time Sanji has experienced the meaning of sacrifice.

"I've been thinking of how nice it'd be if there was a restaurant floating on this sea," Zeff says. It's the first time he's said it out loud.

"A restaurant?"

"That's right…" He can feel the last of his strength draining from him. He's too exhausted to sit up anymore. "If I ever manage to get off this rock, I'll build it, even if it's the last thing I do."

He doesn't need the title of "Red-Leg". He doesn't need all the riches and jewels that are in that bag. Being a pirate was a means to reach his dream, to reach the All Blue. He knows it's out there somewhere, he knows he'll see it one day. But he has a new dream now, one he wants to make come true at all costs. In this age of pirates, in this cruel and merciless ocean, Zeff will make sure people can eat.

* * *

They are trapped on that rock for eighty-five days before rescue finally comes. It's another few months after that before the two of them are well enough to even think of sailing again. By that time, much of the wealth that Zeff had with him on that rock is dwindled, but there is just enough.

There is enough to build a floating restaurant on the sea, and that is all Zeff needed.


End file.
